10 Videos Games That Totally Trolled Players

5. Street Fighter II - Sheng Long

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Capcom

While not perpetrated by the developers themselves, this one snowballed to such a degree it has to be mentioned. Street Fighter II was a huge smash hit when it hit arcades in 1991. The cabinets would see non-stop foot traffic all day as players tried to beat both the computers and each other.

All of these players saw their curiosity piqued by one of Ryu's win quotes: "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance." Who the heck is Sheng Long?

According to Electronic Gaming Monthly, not only was Sheng Long the name of Ken and Ryu's sensei, but he was actually in the game. They published elaborate instructions with photographic proof, and it led to thousands of gamers trying to unlock a fight to the death against him.

One problem: It was the April issue of the magazine. It was an unannounced April Fool's Day joke that took months to debunk, with even the American branch of Capcom thinking he was real and not just a bad mistranslation of "Rising Dragon Punch".

Plus, in 1992, nobody really considered that anyone would doctor photos of the game. In the end, the legacy of Sheng Long caught so much fire that when Capcom introduced Akuma in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, he was heavily based on Sheng Long.

Contributor
Contributor

Formerly the site manager of Cageside Seats and the WWE Team Leader at Bleacher Report, David Bixenspan has been writing professionally about WWE, UFC, and other pop culture since 2009. He's currently WhatCulture's U.S. Editor and also serves as the lead writer of Figure Four Weekly and a monthly contributor to Fighting Spirit Magazine.